Speaking to CNBC on Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sought to reassure the public that Turkey’s President Erdogan has made a personal commitment to President Trump that the Turks won’t slaughter the Kurds as US forces draw down in Syria.

Asked about Erdogan’s trustworthiness not to turn on the US-backed Kurds in Syria, Pompeo made this dubious point: “Erdogan made a commitment to President Trump… that the Turks would continue to the counter ISIS campaign after our departure, and that the Turks would ensure that the folks that we’d fought with — that assisted us in the counter ISIS campaign — would be protected,” according to CNBC. Pompeo explained further that John Bolton is going to speak with Turkey during his visit there on how to put that promise into operation.

Erdogan asserts, “President Trump made the right call to withdraw from Syria,” and while claiming Turkey’s top priority is to fight Islamic State terrorists, ensuring they don’t regroup, he offers as a “first step” the creation of yet another Turkish-backed rebel group to fill the so-called power vacuum left by a future US withdrawal. But first Erdogan attempts to assure, “I would like to point out that we have no argument with the Syrian Kurds.”

However, we should point out that in the lead up to and during last year’s ‘Operation Olive…